HAPPY MARGARITA DAY – with ‘Happy’ Gilmour at Tio’s

We sat down with Alex (Happy) Gilmour, owner of Tio’s Cerveceria in Surry Hils, Sydney, and had a quick chat about his booming Mexican bar.

Tio’s Bar

The dim’ly lit venue has tequila and mezcal bottles cascading behind the bar in an organised mess. With bright colours and countless Mexican memorabilia sprawled throughout the venue. Alex has created a truly authentic environment with an immediately noticeable ‘happy’ vibe.

If you haven’t been already been, Tio’s has some of the best Mexican cocktails in the whole of Sydney and is founded on the strong ethics and ethos of education and open arms.

Drinks World has chosen Tio’s at the IT bar for margarita day because, “every day is Margarita Day here” said, Alex. Tio’s experience alone speaks for its self, making on average 700 margaritas a week. Using fresh pressed lime in every single one of them. Meaning the bar can squeeze through 150 kilos of limes a week!

Alex Gilmour Making a Margarita

In addition to their classic and spicy margarita’s, Tio’s also has a ‘monthly margarita’ flavoured with a different seasonal fruit for that month. “We’re really trying to showcase whatever’s fresh. We’re also trying to focus on other flavours that work really well with our classic margaritas. So our spicy margaritas have sweet pineapple in it and our Tio’s classic margarita has a strong lime oleo” said Gilmour.

The cherry on top is Tio’s mindfulness when it comes to sustainability. Of course, they have gotten rid of the evil plastic straws, however, they have ensured they are using every bit of the lime to put back into the tipple. Such as reusing lime peels for their oleos and for garnishes and limiting their coaster usage.

“Some of the guys we’ve employed have a real love for the environment, they’ve been really focused on making sure we’re following the best practices,” Alex said, “The staff has pushed us to be better, this has come from the bottom up which is beautiful”.

Alex Gilmour With Margarita

They’ve also begun teaching their Instagram audience about a margaritas energy value. Focusing on how long it took for each aspect (limes, glassware, salt etc) of the cocktail to arrive in front of the patron. They’ve done this by looking at the carbon footprint/miles to calculate the products energy points.

Across the most used online review sites, Tio’s has an average of 4.3 out of 5. Alex says this is an outcome of constantly educating his staff and maintaining a high level of morale within his team. A strong aspect of the bar’s ethos is ‘inclusion’. Having open arms and always aiming to please everyone’s taste within his menu.